Nova 2 Lite vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Updated October 21, 2026. 31 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova 2 Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
- Shared results
- 31
- Nova 2 Lite only
- 0
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only
- 52
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, 22.2 against 13.4.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a AA Agentic Index result, 14.3.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a GPQA Diamond result, 83.8%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a MMLU Pro result, 85.8%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens against 1M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
No call
Nova 2 Lite $0.0015, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.0015 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has the number, $0.41.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova 2 Lite not benchmarked, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 49.0 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- General, 16.6 points apart on average over 17 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- AA Coding Index: Nova 2 Lite 23.0 against Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 49.3, 26.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Both cost $2.50 per million output tokens.
- Context window
- Nova 2 Lite takes 1M tokens, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1.05M.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Nova 2 Lite | Bars | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 4 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 17 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 31 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1435 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| AA Coding Index | 23.0 | 49.3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 79.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 75.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 6.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 59.1% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 41.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 39.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ALE-Bench | 236.3 | 765.3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1385 | 1453 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1394 | 1451 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1408 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1448 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 22 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 13.4 | 22.2 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 144.9 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 14.3 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.4% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 7.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 13.9% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 29.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.6% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 18.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 83.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 53.5% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 10.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 21.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 19.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1364 | 1441 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1359 | 1434 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1385 | 1440 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1284 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1291 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 71.1% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 26.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 13.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1359 | 1434 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1369 | 1433 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 85.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 84.1% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 60.7% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 72.6% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.7% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.5% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1382 | 1451 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1386 | 1438 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1359 | 1431 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1369 | 1423 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 51.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.9% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 76.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 83.5% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 37.6% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text | 1362 | 1435 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1335 | 1419 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1292 | 1421 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1269 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1385 | 1438 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1337 | 1427 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1364 | 1468 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: German | 1343 | 1454 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1273 | 1426 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1281 | 1407 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: French | 1381 | 1451 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1375 | 1441 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1342 | 1443 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1327 | 1437 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1338 | 1445 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1335 | 1435 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1318 | 1428 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1309 | 1414 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1269 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1311 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1280 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1287 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1260 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Same cost
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Same cost
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Same cost
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Amazon Nova 2 Lite | Google Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 2, 2025 | July 21, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $2.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 49.0 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.41 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for coding?
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova 2 Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
Nova 2 Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 and $2.50. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova 2 Lite or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks is the Nova 2 Lite vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite comparison based on?
31 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova 2 Lite's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.